Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to financial transactions and more particularly to a universal funding card and the delayed assignment of a funding instrument for a financial transaction.
Related Art
In many instances, customers shopping for products and/or services directly from a merchant will typically fund the face-to-face purchases of those goods and services with a funding instrument such as a credit or debit card (cash or check). Customers will typically carry any number of credit cards to satisfy a variety of accounting purposes including one or more cards for business related purchases and one or more cards for personal related purchases. Accordingly, in addition to being cumbersome and inconvenient, carrying or being in possession of many cards at one time substantially increases the risk of the card being lost or stolen. There is also the possibility that some forms of payment are not accepted by the merchant (e.g. American Express, personal checks, etc). Furthermore, having to make an on-the-spot decision as to which card to use for which purchase may be confusing and pose a financial risk for many individuals. In this regard, many credit cards include joint accounts that may be accessed and utilized by two or more individuals. As such, accurate knowledge of associated balances for one or more cards at any given time may be difficult if not impossible.
Likewise, customers may search for and purchase products and/or services through electronic communications with online merchants over electronic networks such as the Internet. During the course of these transactions, customers may provide payment for items in various ways including, for example, credit cards, electronic fund transfers, and other payment schemes offered by service providers. Similar to their direct purchase counterparts, online customers may encounter confusion, indecision, and financial risk as they must decide at the time of purchase which funding instrument to use for each purchase and whether or not the funding instrument is sufficiently funded to avoid overdraft and other penalties.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a universal funding card and the delayed assignment of a funding instrument for a financial transaction.